A senior official from the Chinese Finance Ministry said in Beijing Friday he has not heard of any plans from the China Investment Corporation (CIC) to add new capital.

Zhu Guangyao, assistant minister of finance, made the remarks at a press conference while answering questions on whether or not China will add capital to the state-owned investment firm.

The press conference was held on the sidelines of the fifth Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) after its conclusion Friday morning.

"Register capital of the CIC is US$200 billion. It has just started the investment business. I heard no demand from the corporation for new capital," Zhu said.

The CIC was set up by China in September 2007 to make profitable use of the country's foreign reserves, which totaled $1.9 trillion by the end of September.

Given the financial crisis and uncertainty brought on by government policies in the United States and Europe, the nation's state-owned forex investment firm said it won't seek a great amount of investment overseas.

(China Daily December 6, 2008)